View Single Post
      04-25-2011, 09:03 PM   #1
Mark
Administrator
Mark's Avatar
6658
Rep
4,201
Posts

Drives: 1M
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: USA

iTrader: (1)

Garage List
What happened to the Brilliance A3 (X1 clone) at Shanghai?

BIMMERPOST NEWS
What happened to the Brilliance A3?
21
COMMENTS
Name:  a3.jpg
Views: 6597
Size:  81.4 KB


Hopefully right now, most of you are asking yourselves, "What is the Brilliance A3?". This is a good thing.

Just to fill in the gaps, Brilliance is one of the larger China based auto manufacturers. The company produces a panoply of its own branded vehicles but is also partnered with BMW on a few projects. For one, Brilliance is in a long term agreement with BMW to produce high volume 3 and 5-series sedans for the Chinese local market using Brilliance production facilites. In addition to producing standard series 3 and 5 series sedans, they are also in bed with BMW on more future looking projects such as a 5-Series plug-in electric hybrid vehicle.

Name:  x1vsa3-1.jpg
Views: 6511
Size:  143.7 KB
This is the stuff that solid long term relationships between equals are built on. Or so one would think?

In late March, Brilliance released a few renderings of a new small SUV concept, called the Brilliance A3. The vehicle immediately raised quite a few eyebrows in the BMW world. The car is a near carbon-copy of the BMW X1, right down to the paintwork.

As a passive observer of automotive events, I was surprised but not shocked by this car. This type of lifting of automotive styling trademarks happens all the time. What was surprising was that it was being done by a company that is ostensibly BMW's partner. The best analogy I could think of would be as if Apple's manufacturers started creating iPhone KIRFs to sell on their own. Apple wouldn't really stand for that now would they?

Heres where things get interesting. The A3 was announced and set to debut at the Shanghai autoshow this past week as one of their center-pieces. The car was a no-show at the biggest auto event in China. Not only did it not make an appearance, a large empty space was left at the Brilliance stand where the SUV was supposed to be. Rumor has it that BMW put its foot down and was understandably upset that Brilliance would try a move like this, especially since the locally produced BMW X1 has not even begun to sell yet.

Right now its all a big swirl of rumors. It is unknown if the A3 project has been permanantly scrapped or simply delayed until BMW can launch its X1 first. We know that BMW takes its brand and its styling very seriously so time will only tell where this story ends, but for now score a victory for team BMW.

__________________
Appreciate 0